Johannesburg - Growth in employment in South Africa accelerated noticeably over the past eight quarters after a prolonged period of marginal employment gains, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said on Thursday in its quarterly economic bulletin.
"Total employment in the formal non-agricultural; sector rose by 76 400 workers of 2007 compared with the fourth quarter of 2006, implying a seasonally adjusted and annualised rate of increase of 3.8%," the SARB said.
The central bank said that improved employment prospects since early 2005 have been evident in both the public and private sector.
Over the year to the first quarter of 2007, public sector employment advanced by a healthy 3.9%, while private sector employment increased by 2.6%.
"Despite the faster pace of job creation in the public sector, the bulk of new jobs were in the private sector as it comprises a larger share of total formal non-agricultural employment," the Bank noted.
Employment gains - according to the June 2007 Quarterly Employment Statistics survey - are fairly widespread through the economy with persistent strong fixed investment encouraging more jobs creation in construction sector.
The SARB added that jobs growth in the construction sector stood close to levels last seen in the early 1980s despite indications of shortages of skilled labour and building materials.
Workers salaries down 4.6% year-on-year
Meanwhile, salaries for workers in the South African non-agricultural sector fell from a year-on-year (y/y) rate of 8.6% in the fourth quarter of 2006, to 4.6% in the first quarter of 2007, the central bank said on Thursday.
As a result, the y/y rate of increase in nominal labour costs fell from 5.3% in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 2.2% in the first quarter of 2007.
Year-on-year growth nominal remuneration per worker in the private sector outpaced that in the public sector in the first quarter of 2007, the central bank noted.
Growth in average remuneration per worker in the private sector slowed to a y/y rate of 5.1% while growth in the public sector remuneration decelerated to 3.1% over the period.
The SARB noted exceptional high growth rates in the community, social and personal services sector (17.0%) as well as in the electricity sector (9.8%).
In the public sector, the higher y/y growth remuneration increases were noted at provincial level (6.0%) and at government departments (4.1%).
The average rate of wage settlements amounted to 6.5% in 2006, rising to 6.8% in the first half of 2007. Settlements ranged from 4.5% in the transport sector to 12.0% in the retail sector, the bank said, quoting Andrew Levy Employment Publications.
The Bank further noted that in recent quarters, output growth in the economy outpaced employment gains.
"This led an acceleration in economy-wide labour productivity growth from a y/y rate of 2.5% in the second quarter of 2006 to 3.1% in the fourth quarter, before proportionally larger gains in employment moderated productivity growth to 2.4% in the first quarter of 2007," the SARB said.
- I-Net Bridge